JEDEC History - 2010s

By 2010, semiconductor revenues had begun to recover from the effects of the Great Recession, and by 2014 they hit a record high of nearly $336 billion. Sales of chips related to mobile technology, wireless networking and cloud computing grew rapidly while those related to the PC market stagnated. OEM factory revenue from smartphones and tablets rose from $41.2 billion in 2007 to $354.3 billion in 2013, according to IHS. Industry experts began to talk about a “post-PC era.”

The shift impacted the memory market, where more DRAMs were sold for mobile devices than for PCs. It was the first time in 30 years that PCs were not the dominant market for DRAMs. Standards reflected the change, as JEDEC published several standards for low-power double-data-rate memory and flash devices.

Google Glass and the Apple Watch were introduced, giving a boost to an already emerging market for wearable electronics. Unit shipments of sensors for that market and others – including autonomous automobiles and drones – rose while prices fell. The Internet of Things became a major market driver.

Meanwhile, cloud providers continued expanding their server farms and began to design their own servers, many of which incorporated solid-state drives (SSDs). JEDEC developed standards for these drives, and companies that used these servers, including Google and Apple, joined the organization.

Counterfeit electronics emerged as a problem for industry and the military. A 2012 U.S. Senate Armed Services investigation found 1,800 cases of counterfeit electronic parts in U.S. military equipment, prompting the Department of Defense to revise acquisition regulations to improve its ability to trace parts back to original manufacturers and placing more responsibility for authenticating parts on contractors. In response, JEDEC developed a standard establishing best practices for mitigating and avoiding counterfeit circuits and discrete semiconductors.

The organization continued to expand globally, launching JEDEC’s first China-based task group in 2016. The group, which is linked with JEDEC’s JC-14 Committee for Quality & Reliability, paves the way for Chinese companies to participate in international standards development.

As JEDEC embarks on its second 50 years, it continues to play an influential role in the microelectronics industry. Semiconductors are the enablers of the digital revolution, and that revolution is just getting started. As microelectronics goes beyond computers and becomes embedded into everything, JEDEC will be there.